Ranged is a very flexible and useful skill to develop as part of your arsenal. It allows you to attack opponents from great distances, using a variety of projectile weapons. The bow and arrow is the most common weapon used by rangers. However, you can also train your Ranged skill using other weapons, such as throwing knives, darts and javelins.

To get started in the Ranged skill you will need a basic bow and some arrows.

You can buy ranging equipment, such as bows and arrows, from archery stores in:

Look for the archery shop symbol on your minimap to help you find the exact location of such stores.

To wield a bow in your inventory, simply left-click on it. Then left-click on a set of arrows in your inventory to store them in your quiver. You are now ready to attack your opponents.

Bows are the favoured weapon of rangers. Shieldbows are more powerful, but at the price of rate of fire. Shortbows have a quicker rate of fire, but they sacrifice power to achieve this.

Arrows and other ammunition do not provide any form of attack bonus or defence bonus, but the stronger the ammunition you use, the more damage you will inflict on your enemies. This is like the way damage increases with higher level melee weapons.

Like all other forms of combat, you must select a monster or player that you wish to attack by left-clicking on them to begin the fight (you can also press the 'T' button on your keyboard and then left-click the enemy you wish to attack). This can be useful for starting combat with an ability rather than an auto-attack. You will now begin to fire arrows at your chosen target until you are interrupted by another monster or player, die or defeat your foe.

As you fire your arrows, some will miss, lodging into the ground next to the monster. After the battle, you can retrieve the arrows and use them again. Please note there is an 80% chance of keeping any projectile and that anything you fire will only remain for a couple of minutes, so be prepared to lose a few if you are training for a long time!

You cannot attack a monster or player if you do not have a direct line of sight (for example, if there is a tree or wall between you and your enemy). When enemies are attacked by ranging, they will attempt to run and attack you in hand-to-hand combat. If you decide to shoot at a monster from the other side of an obstacle, then the monster will not be able to retaliate, thus saving you from taking damage.

Be warned that some monsters have the ability to use Ranged attacks and will attack you from a distance. The most accomplished rangers will use the terrain to gain an advantage over an enemy, as they are relatively weak in hand-to-hand combat.

Getting Ranged Experience

Experience in Ranged is provided to you each time you kill an enemy. The amount of damage you do will determine how much XP you are given, so enemies with more health are worth more XP, but typically harder to kill. If you only partly contribute to the kill of an enemy you are awarded experience for the damage you inflicted.

Using the Ranged Powers interface, you can choose where you want your XP to go. For Ranged, your choices are:

Choice

XP

Balanced

Ranged

Defence

Boosting Experience Gain

The small, medium, large and huge fallen stars can boost your XP gain depending on your level. To activate your bonus XP, you must click the star. Once the bonus XP has been added to your bonus XP pool, the star is removed from your inventory.

Training Hints and Tips

When possible, use fences, gates and obstacles to your advantage. You will gain a greater advantage over your opponent by doing so, especially when fighting melee opponents.

Ranged Boosts

It is possible for Members to drink ranging or extreme ranging potions to temporarily increase their Ranged skill. Please see the Herblore section for more details.

The ale for today's bowmen, Ranger's aid, is not one that can be brewed - its recipe a closely held secret of the owners of the newly refurbished Poison Arrow pub in East Ardougne. The barkeep, Marion, will gladly sell you a pint of Ranger's aid for 25 coins, or, to give your arrows that little extra zing, Ranger's aid (m) at 50 coins. Ranger's aid will boost your Ranged skill by 2, but temporarily reduce your Defence by 2-6 points. The mature version boosts Ranged by 3, but decreases Defence by 3-7. Both will also heal your life points by 10.

A red Spicy stew, amongst other things, has a random chance to increase your Ranged level by up to 6 levels (or decrease it by the same).

Using the Summoning skill, you'll find that there are a few familiars that might be useful for training your Ranged. Of particular note is the Spirit scorpion, whose special move can poison your Ranged attacks while you fire them.

Useful Items

Ava's items works through a combination of hard science and strange magic, which allows them to accumulate lost arrowheads, as well as arrow shafts and feathers, as you wander the landscape. Because of the laws of magnetics, the Attractor will only gather iron or steel arrowheads.

If you complete Ava's quest with a Ranged level between 30 and 49, you will receive Ava's Attractor, which will collect iron arrows; if you have a Ranged level of 50 or higher, you will receive Ava's Accumulator, which will collect steel arrows. You can also get Ava's Alerter which can detect the metal boxes that elite clue scrolls are found in. If you have the Attractor but later reach a Ranged level of 50, you can talk to Ava who will explain what she needs to upgrade it to an Accumulator in order to collect steel arrows.

Every so often Ava's device will manage to pick up a few other metallic items like throwing knives and clockwork mice. In addition to this, the device will collect most of your own arrows as you fire them, saving you from having to pick them up.

The Scrimshaw of ranging and Superior scrimshaw of ranging last for 3 or 4 hours respectively and can increase your Ranged critical hit chance. The normal scrimshaw increases this chance by 2.5% whereas the superior version increased this by 2.7%.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What order do I set up the dwarf cannon?

To successfully setup a dwarf cannon, you will need to first place the base, then the cannon stand. Next, you place the barrel on the stand and finally place the furnace on the cannon. You should now have a complete and functional dwarf cannon ready to destroy your enemies.

Now you will need to load in your steel cannonballs - the cannon can hold thirty balls at a time. After these run out you will have to reload the cannon.

2. When can you claim on the dwarf cannon warranty?

The dwarf cannon can only be claimed back using the dwarf cannon warranty.

A dwarf cannon, or missing parts of a dwarf cannon, can be claimed if you die while it is set up, or if it rusts.

You cannot reclaim your dwarf cannon if you are killed and do not have the cannon as one of your three kept items, you trade it, drop it, or use the high alchemy spell on it.

3. My cannon has disappeared. I was standing next to it and nobody has stolen it. What happened?

The dwarf cannon decays after a certain amount of time. When this happens, the cannon will vanish and you will need to go and see Nulodion. He will be able to supply you with another.

4. Sometimes my dwarf cannon shoots twice, what is going on?

Indeed, the dwarf cannon is known occasionally to fire twice at a single target. This is the way the dwarves originally intended for the cannon to work.

The reason it now fires only one at a time is that, with the cannon firing continually at the higher speed, the dwarf engineers could not keep it cool enough, resulting in the barrel melting slightly. The cannonballs would then begin to damage the inside of the cannon, until it blocked up completely and its furnace exploded.

You need not worry, though: the occasional double shot will not cause you or the cannon any harm.

5. What affects my max hit?

Your max hit with ranged attacks is based on:

The damage rating of the weapon(s)

The damage rating of the ammunition

Your Ranged level (and any potions, prayers or buffs affecting this)

The damage modifier of the ability being used (such as 125% of weapon damage)

See Also

Ranged Related Skills

The following skills help with the Ranged skill:

Prayer - Providing positive benefits to aid in your combat. For members, your Prayer List can also be swapped for Curses which can give negative effects to your enemies.

Summoning - If you are struggling to fend off more difficult enemies, the familiars that you can summon through the Summoning skill can help.

Magic - If you have gem-tipped crossbow bolts you may like to try enchanting them. Each type of gem can have a different enchantment imbued into it which can unleash a special Ranged effect, so that certain bolts become far superior against certain foes.

In your Standard Spellbook you will discover the spell 'Enchant Crossbow Bolt'. This is a collection of spells that allows you to enchant whatever gem-tipped bolts you happen to have on you. As it is the gem that stores the enchantment, only gem-tipped bolts can be enchanted in this way.

If you have the appropriate type of bolt equipped or in your inventory, the correct Magic level, and the requisite runes, you will be able to enchant your bolts. Each casting of the spell will enchant up to ten of the same type of bolt (it will only enchant fewer if you do not have ten equipped or in your inventory).